Quete

by Comrade Bagel Muffin

Tout Seul

Escutcheon continued down the bank of the river. He knew eventually he would arrive at the ruins of an abandoned fishing village that was forsaken at the end of the First War, apparently there were still several building still standing. He wanted to make it there before nightfall, there were rumors about what lived in the forest, things he really didn't want to run into.

"This was stupid. I should have gone north to Slo." Escutcheon grumbled to himself as he ate a piece of gopher jerky. He scrunched up his face at the taste of the meat. He wished that fish could be made into jerky. He never like how gopher tasted, no matter how it was seasoned. He looked over to the river, wishing that he had bought a net or even a fishing line. He looked over his shoulder if he headed back now. "No, I can't go back not right now." He got up and followed the river. Knowing that it would eventually feed into a lake. Hopefully there would be a salvageable fishing net somewhere in the abandoned town. He wasn't sure if there would be the First War was a hundred twenty years ago.

Three hours pass noon he arrived at the abandoned town. Many of the building near the lake were completely destroyed, reduced to nothing but a pile of rubble. The buildings that were closest to the tree line were starting to be integrated back into the forest that they came from. There were several streets of buildings were still semihabitable. He figured that he would start there. He headed into the town.

"Hello!" He called, he didn't know why he did. The town was suppose to be completely abandoned.

"Ha." He jumped turning around to face the building where the call came from. "Ha." He sighed in relief at the crow that was resting in its nest. He stilled his nerves and headed into the building it was resting on. It was a store of some kind, the second story had started falling in, there was also a basement underneath him. He wasn't eager to go down stairs to see what was under his hooves.

"Wow. This place is a 20 out of 10 on the creepy meter." He jumped turning around at a tapping on the window. He gulped at the crow that tapped several more times on the window. "Make that 25 out of 10. Maybe coming here was a bad idea." He went over to one of the counters. "Well what ever this place was selling it wasn't water proof. Hopefully the next store will have a fish net." He headed out of the building the crow at the window just watched him. He shivered and galloped across the street to the next building.

This building was probably the general store. It also had a basement, which again he planned on avoiding like the plague. The shelves were all empty. There were some cans and other pieces of assorted junk scattered on the floor. He headed over to the counter, his eyes lit up at the fishing net. A shiver ran down his spine at the tapping on the window. He looked over his shoulder. "Please stop doing that, Mr. Crow. It's making this creepy town a lot creepier." He grabbed the net in his magic and headed out to the lake. He was done with this creepy place. He was going to get some fish, stay here for the night and then as soon as the sun came up he was getting the heck out of here.

Escutcheon walked to the edge of the town the net floating to his side. Every couple of seconds he would look over his shoulder. He felt like something other than the crows were watching him. The feeling didn't go away when he got to the water's edge. He focused on the water. Every thirty minutes he used his magic to pull the net back. It was always empty, every time he was beginning to worry, as the sun got closer to the horizon.

"Okay, one more time, then I need to find a place to stay for the night. No matter what." He pulled the net back in one last time as the sun began to dip closer and closer to the tree line on the. The net snagged on something. He pulled it harder and harder, it wouldn't budge. He gave it one final pull the net was flung back up to the shore, torn beyond repair, rendered completely useless.

He walked down the three streets of the town with the most well preserved buildings. Hoping to spend the night in the building that was the most sturdy. He came to a stopped In the middle of the third street stood a completely preserved building. He gazed in awe at the medium sized wooden building. The preservation would have been imposable with out a preservation spell. He smiled and hurried in glad that he would spend the night in a building with four solid walls and an intact roof.